This just goes to show you that technology is moving at a great rate.

It was less than 30 years ago when the UK only had 3 national TV channels. And 24/7 TV was very limited with channels closing down late at night. But soon Ofcom will award its one thousandth channel license. That is 1000 channels, some have stayed, many have gone, oner the last 30 years.

And then we have seen the steady progression of television technology over the years…widescreen TVs, plasma TVs, LCD TV, LED Tvs, high definition TVs and now 3D TV along with the Sky 3D TV channel…

So whats next I wonder…..

Well, it looks like it will be a few things: internet TV, ultra HD, or even holographic TV.
Yes, I did say that!
Holographic TV.
Apparently Apple, yes them of Ipod and Ipad fame, have apparently applied for a patent reveals for a 3D TV screen that will not only show 3D images, but will also be able to show an “almost” holographic image!

Men and Movies started around a year ago and was launched as a Freesat exclusive channel.
Even performing a manual scan on a Sky box could not bring up the channel.

But now this channel is now available on the Sky guide – Sky channel 228.

Maybe they found that by limiting the channels availbility they were losing so much revenue from advertisers, that the decided not to be exclusive to only just one “provider”

With one month to go before the “pinnacle of motorsport” starts is long new season, it has recently been announced that Formula One will finally be available in HD.
From the start of this 2011 championship, starting in Bahrain on the 11th March, world broadcasters will now be able to show F1 in HD, as opposed to recent years when they have had to upscale the SD feed for their HD channels.

So expect qualifying and the main race to be available in HD on BBC1HD and BBC HD. However, the practice sessions will still be in SD and not HD, as these are only available via the BBC Sports Red Button services, which does not currently supoport the HD functions. Maybe this may change, and there will be a number of HD streams available for the multiple sports in the 2012 Olympc Games….

Of course, on board camera shots will not be available in HD, I don’t think the technology has advanced that much to get good HD shots from their small cameras they use.

As MotoGP and British Touring Cars has a few of their final races of the 2010 seasons in HD, it is good to see that finally the world most technologically advanced sport has caught up to a lot of other lesser advanced and lower budget sports and will be in HD!

Well, since Sky bought a number of channels from Virgin in 2010, some channels were always under threat of being closed down, as their content would be similar to exiting channels.

And as from 1st January, the popular Bravo channel has been closed and is no longer available at all on Sky or Virgin Media.

There has been no word as yet where Bravo programming will go, but I would expect it will be moved to other Sky channels, like Sky One, Living, or Challenge.

Many of the “Bravo” programmes, like DOG the Bounty Hunter and TNA Wrestling, have still not found new homes on the Sky channels. I would have thought that Sky would have had plenty of time since it bought the channels to be able to find new channels for this programming, as from what I have seen on numberous message boards, some programmes on Bravo were popular, maybe not mainstream popular, but more “cult” viewing.

With Sky TV having the world’s first 3D TV showing of James Camerons Avatar tonight on Sky 3D, will 3D TVs really take off?

The uptake of 3D TVs has been relatively slow, probably due to people already spending their money on the latest big plasma TVs when they first came out, then they upgraded to the big LCD TVs and then they upgraded to the latest LED TVs.

So, with many people just having bought a new big HD TV, will they really spend £1000 on a new 3D TV just yet, especially as 3D TV and films are still relatively low in quantity and availability.

To be able to get the Sky 3D TV service, you must subscribe to the FULL sky package, that’s all 6 TV mixes, Sky Movies, Sky Sports and their HD subscription.

So with this requirement of a full Sky subscription, and the cost of new 3D TVs, 3D TV for all may not be affordable yet.

And it is probably sometime before the likes of the BBC start to show anything in 3D on TVs, especially with the costs and the cut in the TV tax, erm licence fee more than likely slowing development. And costs and revenues will certainly have an factor on any free to air 3D TV channels.

Some people may already have some access to 3D, without knowing it. Sonys Playstation 3, with a recent software update, is now capable of using its blu ray DVD player to show 3D DVDs. But you still need that 3D TV!

And even this week, Toshiba were the first to publicly show off their latest 3D TV, that does not need the 3D glasses. Yes, 3D TV with no special 3D glasses. So another upgrade may be required for those that have just bought a 3D TV that uses now “old technology” glasses….whenthe price of these TVs becomes affordable.

High defintion is one of the latest television technologies that everyone is talking about, and, presumably, why people are buying big flat screen TVs. And it is all down to the superior quality of high definition pictures.

For high definition, you need a HD TV, and a HD source (be that a HD TV with built in HD receiver, or HD set top box).

And then decide which platform you want to receive your HD channels from.

But what systems offer high definition channels.

Currently there are four High Definition channels available with no monthly payments / subscription on Freeview HD:
BBC One HD
BBC HD
ITV HD
Channel 4 HD

Note that reception of some Freeview channels depend on your transmitter area

Currently there are three High Definition channels available with no monthly payments / subscription on Freesat HD:
BBC One HD
BBC HD
ITV HD

On satellite, Channel 4HD and Five HD are only available with a Sky card and a Sky HD box.
All other HD channels, like Sky Sports HD and National Geographic HD all require an extra HD subscription to Sky.

It may be that in the end you may end up with both a Freesat HD AND a Freeview HD receiver. Why? Well there are some “non-subscrition” channels that are on satellite only, and others that are on Freeview only.

More info on DishPointer

With the launch of Freesat, E4 and 4More are now free-to-air, i.e. they can be viewed without any subscribtion and therefore are not part of Sky’s packages anymore.

However, it seems that the two channels are now being broadcast from the Astra 2D satellite which has a much tighter footprint on the UK, making it more difficult for people living on contintental Europe to receive these channels (together with the BBC and ITV channels).

Freesat from BBC and ITV has officially launched today. Similar to Freeview which is available through a terrestrial aerial, Freesat is a free digital service available through satellite.

Initially it will have over 80 radio and TV channels plus BBC HD and ITV HD. The latter will be exclusive to Freesat meaning you won’t be able to receive that channel with FTA receivers other than Freesat receivers. Over the next few years, the number of channels will be likely to increase to over 200.

Freesat covers 98% of the UK but a clear line of sight to the satellite is required in addition to the equipment (receiver, satellite dish and cabling).

Ready for the start of the Barclays Premier League, Sky has announced two new initiatives to bring more sports action to mobile phones:

24-7 Football
Sky, The Sun and News of the world have launched the website 24-7football.co.uk with an on-demand service for mobiles to view video clips of football goals as they happen, and highlights after the whistle from every Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League game.

The service is available for a monthly subscription of %5 or on a pay per view basis (50p for a video clip). Users don’t need to have a Sky TV subscription to access the clips and they are available on all major mobile networks.

Sky Mobile TV
Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 will be available on Sky Mobile TV from 11 August. Sky Sports Xtra will be added in the coming weeks. These new mobile channels will stream all of Sky Sports’ 92 live Barclays Premier League games and live matches from every round of the UEFA Champions League, as well as Coca-Cola Football League, Carling Cup, FA Cup and Euro 2008 Qualifiers. Not to mention live coverage of International and Domestic cricket, European Tour Golf and Guinness Premiership Rugby.

Sky does not charge at the moment to access the service but the mobile operators will charge for the data downloaded, so you better check your tariff before using Sky Mobile TV.